Thank you for the great support on this AU story. Some clues as to what happened are starting to make sense to Steph.
Disclaimer: The Plum universe belongs to JE.
Connie was behind her desk when I entered the Bonds office. "Hey, Harry!" She called over her shoulder. "She's here!"
I gave Connie a little finger wave just as Harry the Hammer walked out of the doorway behind Connie's desk.
"It's great to see you." Harry waved me into the office and I willingly followed.
"Connie informed me Vinnie turned up." I commented as he motioned me to take a seat.
"That waste of skin was caught in a prostitution and drug raid last night on Stark." I nodded for him to continue, filing the information away. "I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but last night proved me right all along." Harry said Vinnie had obviously done nothing to go looking for Lucille. "I know you've been searching for my daughter. And I've heard you're real good at finding people." Harry said he wanted to enlist my help officially.
"Here." Connie came up from behind me, handing me a white envelope. I took it and inspected the contents.
"That should be enough as a retainer and for initial expenses, right?" Harry asked.
"This will do for now." To be honest, I was very invested in this already. Getting a paycheck is only an added bonus.
"I've also enlisted the help of one more person." Harry said that person was once a very successful bounty hunter. "He likes to go by Ranger and he should be contacting you if he finds her first."
"Okay." If he only knew that Ranger and I have already had several encounters.
"Do you have any leads?" Harry was obviously concerned about his daughter's safety. That means he might have information he's not sharing.
"I talked to Mooner, the security guard Lucille assaulted." I gave a quick recap of what came out of that conversation.
"My daughter has always been a non-violent person." Harry said Lucille is the sweetest person he's ever met.
"The security guard said she looked spooked that day." This whole thing is just a jumbled mess.
"Find my daughter." Harry said he made a composite of old friends and distant family members, as well as a list of his properties.
"I'll get you the folder." Connie told me before making herself scarce.
"I'll keep you informed." I fished out one of my cards and gave it to him.
S&R
Since I wasn't up for a physically draining experience today, I decided on research. I passed by the local library, but it turned out it was closed for a special training session for the workers. Damn. Where else will I be able to find newspapers for the past couple of weeks? Hmmm… And then it hit me! I hooked a U-turn, heading towards my parents' house.
Grandma Mazur opened the screen door for me as I walked towards her. "What's wrong with you? Why are you walking kind of funny?" She inspected me, paying close attention to my lower half.
"It's only a little scrape." I shot her a look so she could drop it.
"Hmm…" Grandma squinted up at my face, but thankfully dropped it.
"Stephanie, are you hungry?" My mom said they'd just had a late lunch, but that she could still whip something up for me.
"I'm okay, Ma." I asked if Dad still kept his old newspapers in the garage.
"Yes." My mother gave me a puzzled look, asking why I wanted to know.
"I want to conduct some research on Lucille." I gave the two a wave as I left my shoulder bag on the couch.
I sifted through the stacks of newspapers along the back wall of the garage until I found the one with the date of Lucille's arrest. There was nothing really interesting, so I set it aside and grabbed the one for the next day. Now, that one had something interesting. A body of a woman was found in the dumpsters behind Quaker Bridge Mall. Not much info was given, so I flipped through the pages of the newspaper for the following day and the next and so on. In the end, it turned out the dead woman was identified as Carmen Sanchez but no cause of death was ever stated. After a few more daily newspaper issues, the murder was no longer touched.
With a blurry vision I carted the newspapers inside the house and used the phone to call an old friend who might have some information. "How's it going, Eddie?" Eddie Gazzarra is an old friend and he married my cousin Shirley the whiner.
Eddie blew out a sigh. "Work is a pain in the ass and to top it all off Shirley's got me on a diet."
"If you have time to chat, I'll get you a pizza or a sub." I offered.
"From Pino's?"
"Where else?" I knew I had him when he said he'd meet me there in a half hour.
"You're leaving?" My mother said she was making Pot roast for dinner and rice pudding.
I grimaced, hating that I would be missing dessert. "I have to work."
"You're working a case now?" Grandma Mazur wanted to know, interested to have details.
"Lucille's father hired me to find her."
"I'll save the leftovers for you." My mother said as I walked out of the house.
S&R
Eddie arrived almost at the same time the food did. We shared a quick hello before he dug in.
"So, what'd you want to talk about?" Eddie asked as he savored his first bite of pizza.
"What do you know about Carmen Sanchez?"
His cop expression quickly returned. "That's a nasty case." He said it was a gruesome murder. "Why are you interested in that?"
I told him I was looking for Lucille Plum, Vinnie's wife. "She was arrested for assaulting a security guard at the mall and recently missed her court date." I told him I flipped through old newspapers looking for clues and found out about Sanchez. "Somehow I don't think a dead body turning up the same night Lucille was arrested is a coincidence."
"Carmen Sanchez was Benito Ramirez's woman. You know who he is?"
"I've heard talk about him. He's a boxer, right?" I feigned ignorance, not letting Eddie know that I've bumped into Ramirez on Stark Street.
Eddie nodded as he polished off his first slice and reached for another. "Yeah. He's a bad piece of work. Ramirez likes to beat the shit out of his opponents on the ring and outside of it he likes to beat his women." Eddie went out to say that said women always end up dropping the charges against him or simply disappear. "Stay away from him." Eddie gave me his most serious expression. He meant it.
That was fine with me. "Do you know what's going to happen with Vinnie?"
Eddie shrugged. "He was caught with his pants down in a prostitution raid." He said no one posted bail for him, so Vinnie was going to have to sit and wait in jail until it was time to see the judge.
"This is just so messy." I shook my head as I reached for a pizza slice.
"Oh, but how I've missed this greasy goodie." He shot me his best grin and he put his name on a third piece of pizza.
S&R
After a confusing day, I decided that a nice hot shower would be the perfect ending for it. As I was lathering up I sensed a presence in the apartment. I stilled my movements in an effort to try and listen for movement. My heart was pounding as I waited.
And when the bathroom door burst open, I just about fainted with terror. The intruder couldn't have caught me at a worst moment. I'm naked and in the shower!
A moment later the curtain was yanked aside. "AAAAHHHHHHH!" I yelped and threw the shampoo bottle at the intruder. There was a male grunt. Ignoring it, I panicked and threw everything within reach at him.
"Stop!" A strong hand gripped my wrists, halting my movements.
"Ranger?" I glared at him, furiously blinking away the water sluicing past my eyes.
"Babe." He shut the water off and told me we had to go.
"What? Why?" I stepped out of the tub, but refused to follow him.
"Word on the street is that Ramirez has his sights set on you." Ranger tugged for me to follow, effectively dragging me along.
"I'm naked!" I tried to reach for the towel, but passed it without being able to grab a hold of it.
Ranger stopped walking and turned to give me a long considering look, slowly scanning my body from head to toe. "Yes, you are." The corners of his mouth lifted in an almost smile, setting my skin on fire.